Children's Ombudsman Criticizes Circumcision of
Boys

Hong Pham

26 June 2003: Trond Waage
(barneombudet) asks the Minister of Health for a report
(official statement of position) re circumcision of
boys. Barneombudet is of the opinion that such
practices must cease at all public hospitals (note,
practically ALL hospitals in Norway are public) if the
practice is harmful to the health of the child.

- Norwegian law has absorbed
("internalized") the U.N. Convention
on the Rights of the Child, and thus we must
terminate traditional practices which are harmful to
the health of the child, says Waage. Today Norwegian
hospitals are obliged ("directed") by Norwegian
governmental authorities to perform circumcision of
boys of Muslim or Jewish background.

City Councilman Athar Ali, Red
Election Alliance (RV - far leftist party), in Oslo has
earlier engaged himself for the introduction of
circumcision at Ullevål Hospital (the largest
hospital, public, in Oslo). "I have never heard that
circumcision might have health dysfunctions," he says.
Gynecologist Inger Marlene Hære at the Women's Clinic of the Central
Hospital in Rogaland (Western region of Norway, in
which Stavanger is the principal city) is, however, of
another opinion. "We know that circumcision of boys
produces medical complications. Among other things one
will feel less during sexual intercourse. Foreskin is
meant to protect the penis, yet it is removed by
circumcision. This causes the child to become more
susceptible to open sores, bleeding and infections,"
she says. She is of the opinion that circumcision is an
assault on children. "Why do this incision on boys when
it is forbidden by law against girls? The operation
should be postponed until the boys are grown enough to
be able to decide for themselves," ventures
Hære.

ILLEGAL PRACTICES

Ali has on the other hand heard that
the operations might induce complication if done at an
adult age. He moreover fears that an illegal market for
such operations might bloom if hospitals remove this
option (from their services). "This is a tradition that
many Muslims and Jews wish to uphold. An operation
would probably cost somewhere between 3.000-4.000
kroner (about $500) to do privately. Thus I am afraid
that many might seek out non-competent (practitioners)
for a cheaper operation. Then authorities might lose
perspective (knowledge of what's going on)," says Ali.
Waage (barneombudet) is aware of this risk, but demands
even so a thorough (governmental) report (equivalent to
a White Paper) setting forth the basis (the arguments
and premises upon which such practices are presently
based) for allowing the circumcision of boys in Norway
before he will reach his own final conclusion.